Seaside cartoon event this weekend

The Cartoonists Beside the Surrealside event takes place in Herne Bay, Kent, this Sunday. There will be live drawing of gags, political cartoons, caricatures and more in the Bandstand on the sea front from midday until 5pm.

8 responses to Seaside cartoon event this weekend

This was an absolute stunner. Really good can – do approach by the organisers [inc Nathan, natch] Brilliant venue with ice cream and cold drinks on tap. Martin Honeysett displayed the patience of a saint with punters who said things like “I do a bit of doodlin’…………..then proceeded to erm, doodle, lengthily..Alex Hughes drew the entire population of Herne Bay. Then did visitors in the afternoon. Jeremy’s hat brought several mini-buses of admirers from outlying areas. Carol, Cathy et al got the kids to produce a HUGE composite drawing…………..I could go on…………..

Absolutely, Bill, this was a great event – the sun drenched venue was excellent and the passing mass of people through the Bandstand seemed very appreciative of our efforts. Great work by organisers, we were well fed and watered and looked after – yes, I could go on too…!

Bill I have a feeling you could be implying to me with the “I do a bit of doodling ” and then proceeded to doodle ” at length” … I actually approached a table with sheets of blank paper all over it and asked several people what do we ‘punters’ do ?? The actual artist working on the table who I believe was Banx ( I could be wrong? ) said just pick up a pen and draw … I saw no signs for time limits for drawing, and was doing so with a sharpie best used to ‘tag’ on busses rather then to produce a bit of work worthy of any recognition.

I was just enjoying myself, I might add I do the odd bit of cartoon for a fanzine and has done the odd piece for money. It was when I was on the final part of my sketch (if you can call it that??) when I was approached by a chap who proceeded to ‘dig out’ most parts of my unfinished work … He then made me draw faces and draw with my left hand, this all in front of a crowd which I felt was a little unfair but if it made him feel important then crack on … This guy then proceeded to put his hand on my shoulder and told me that this was a 5min thing and that I had taken 30 … There was no signs???

I don’t mind criticism but if this is the same person you described as having the patience of a saint your well off the mark. The sunglasses wearing man needs to employ a little dignity and respect for other people … None of the other ‘artists’ were made to feel like an idiot in front of the crowd, but with me he felt that necessary.

The bearded guy doing the caricatures was fantastic and deserved a lot of accolades.

The event was great but if the idea from certain people was to patronize and belittle perhaps signs advising such should have been put up.

And before anyone why did I not raise my unhappiness at the time, there were many children present who appeared to be enjoying themselves.

Hi Sam, sorry to hear you were unhappy with that experience and I hope it didn’t spoil your day. You’re right that there were no signs because I don’t think there were any official limits as such. The event is always a little anarchic, in the spirit of Marcel Duchamp who inspired last year’s, and maybe that works sometimes, not so much others. Do come back next year … and keep on drawing! — Royston (blog editor)

Re: “bearded guy” – aka Alex Hughes. I hadn’t realised quite how many wonderful caricatures Alex managed to produce last Sunday – until a very determined mother marched her 4 kids into the gallery on Tuesday and demanded the “bearded guy” draw their pictures too. Apparently, all their mates and school friends had been immortalised by Alex and she was outraged that her own brood had yet to receive the same treatment. When I told her Alex had only been at work between noon and five on Sunday and sadly she had now missed him, she flatly refused to believe me – convinced we had Alex hidden in a safe house somewhere still plying his art to specially favoured subjects. No good deed goes unpunished, eh? But I now think Alex may have produced something like a hundred good deeds for which the rest of the town is enormously grateful.

Email subscription

Legalities

Disclaimer: Any opinion expressed here is that of the named individual and not that of the UK Professional Cartoonists' Organisation unless explicitly stated. Artwork attributed to a named author or publication on this diary should be noted by anyone linking to us from any other site. Thank you. If you wish to reproduce an image please contact the artist from here.